


sweetheart, what have you done to us

by swimthewholeriogrande



Series: Call This Living [3]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Hurt Jake Peralta, Hurt/Comfort, Original Character(s), Post-Prison, Prison, True Love, Violence, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-17 21:36:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17568368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swimthewholeriogrande/pseuds/swimthewholeriogrande
Summary: Water, cigarettes, and Amy's hands.





	sweetheart, what have you done to us

**Author's Note:**

> Weird one but it kind of just happened!

1.

They get at him while he's peeing, which really isn't cool, because it's a pretty vulnerable position. Jake hasn't been in prison for longer than two months, but he already hates it, itching and tired all the time. And now, he's literally only just zipped up his fly when a huge hand wraps around his face, covering his nose and mouth, and Jake lets out a muffled squawk.

"Oh, shut up." the other inmate huffs in his ear, and wrenches Jake around effortlessly. His gut drops like a stone; there's five guys crowded around him, and no sign of any guards or even Caleb. 

He goes to speak, but then the breath is knocked out of him by a powerful hit to his stomach, and he thinks he's gonna throw up out of sheer shock. Jake grunts in pain through the fingers over his mouth, and the next hit is to his side, crumpling him over on his left.

He bites the fingers, more out of pain than anything else, and sucks in air desperately. "Stop," he wheezes, winded, and then his head snaps back with the strength of someone's fist. He feels his nose break, feels the warm gush over his lips and chin, and his face lights up on fire. Childish panic floods any semblance of put-togetherness.

"Stop!"Jake yelps again uselessly; he's half-curled, trying to protect his stomach, and when he touches the blood on his face his hand comes back shaking and scarlet. The men around him seem so tall, blocking out the light in a godlike way, and the one behind him shoves him roughly.

"Fuckin' pig." he sneers, and Jake feels saliva hit the back of his neck and shudders. Revulsion rolls through his body. He'd known it was dangerous to be a cop in prison, known he'd be seen as the enemy, but this - this was insane. This only happened in movies, right? And not to him. Surely not to him. 

He's floored by the backhand he receives next, and then he can't protect himself, splayed and raw, and they set in like wolves - he feels every kick like individual supernovas crashing into his form, and he jerks with each one, knowing he must be letting out the most horrible sounds.

Jake doesn't realise they've backed off until a minute after they do, and even then he stays still and twitching, breathing heavy through his clogged nose. His head swims and twines. There's a shuffle, the hiss of pipes, and the shower starts to run over his body - lukewarm water splashes down onto his face, starts to wash the blood and tears and saliva away, and he blinks dumbly against the drops in his eyes. 

"Clean up now, pig." one of the men taunts; they sound so far away, but they're close enough to still cast shadows over him.

Jake swallows thickly. _Please be finished,_ he prays and, mercy of mercies, they leave. And he lies in the water and feels himself slip, slip, slip down the grated, filthy drain, further from the outside world - from his real life - with every heaving breath he takes. 

2.

"You can't do this."

Jake is standing right up at the door in the tiny solitary cell; he'd be nose-to-nose to the warden if it wasn't for the grated window in between them. The older man's eyes are black and flat as stones, sharks, and he doesn't reply. Jake hears a lighter flick.

"It's illegal." he maintains. His voice is stronger than he feels. "You can't keep me in here for no reason. I could call -"

The warden takes a drag and lets it out slow. Foul smoke filters through the grate, settling on Jake's unwashed face, and he knows he will smell it phantom-like for days, for the rest of his life.

" _Jake._ " He sounds exasperated, disappointed, he sounds like Jake's dad. "You know I have to punish you, or the other inmates will get suspicious. This is for your own good."

Jake's heart is clawing up his throat. "Not like this." he says, but there's the slightest, oddest note of dread in his words; he's losing his edge. "C'mon, just give me no yard time or something, this isn't fair!"

The smoke curls past him, like it's filling the tiny space, like he's trapped in a box with a dragon. The warden's teeth are nicotine-yellow when he smiles. "See you in three days," he replies, and then Jake is drowning, all on his own.

3.

She's so gentle now.

Not that she wasn't before - Amy has always been soft and careful, like Jake was something gorgeous since the start - but now it's clear that she values every time they touch. She's always got a hand on him, light and reassuring, whenever they're near.

Jake remembers she lost something then, too. Remembers her face when he'd limp to the visiting room and her eyes would flicker.

Amy could probably level a city, he knows - she's got the grit, the strength he's only now regaining, and she's always been stronger than him anyway. Amy could bring the world down around her heels, but she's so gentle with him. He notices it most when they're alone; she'll play with his fingers, trace old scars on his arm from long-forgotten academy mishaps, and every motion will be done so deliberately that there's never any doubt that he's safe.

Jake wants to be safe so bad that it burns him from the inside out. Some days he feels like a rotting house, the foundations sunk far below the Earth, until Amy brushes it from his mind effortlessly. She's a sun, a star, an angel.

And _God_ , Jake thinks, almost all the time, _God, I love you._

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed, please let me know!


End file.
